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Migration and Refugee Services/Office of Migration Policy and Public Affairs The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops August 2013

According to the Pew Hispanic Center, there are currently 11.2 million unauthorized persons residing in the United States. Each year, approximately 300,000 more unauthorized immigrants enter the country. In large part, these immigrants feel compelled to enter by either the explicit or implicit promise of employment in the U.S. agriculture, construction, and service industries, among others. Most of this unauthorized flow comes from Mexico, a nation struggling with severe poverty, where it is often impossible for many to earn a living wage and meet the basic needs of their families.

Survival has thus become the primary impetus for unauthorized immigration flows into the United States. Todays unauthorized immigrants are largely lowskilled workers who come to the United States for work to support their families. Over the past several decades, the demand by U.S. businesses, large and small, for lowskilled workers has grown exponentially, while the supply of available workers for lowskilled jobs has diminished. Yet, there are only 5,000 green cards available annually for lowskilled workers to enter the United States lawfully to reside and work. The only alternative to this is a temporary work visa through the H2A (seasonal agricultural) or H2B (seasonal nonagricultural) visa programs which provide temporary status to lowskilled workers seeking to enter the country lawfully. While H2A visas are not numerically capped, the requirements are onerous. H2B visas are capped at 66,000 annually. Both only provide temporary status to work for a U.S. employer for one year. At their current numbers, these are woefully insufficient to provide legal means for the foreignborn to enter the United States to live and work, and thereby meet our demand for foreignborn labor.

In light of all of this, many unauthorized consider the prospect of being apprehended for crossing illegally into the United States a necessary risk. Even after being arrested and deported, reports indicate that many immigrants attempt to reenter the United States once again in the hope of bettering their lives.

Adding to this very human dilemma is the potentially dangerous nature of crossing the Southern border. Smugglers looking to take advantage of wouldbe immigrants extort them for exorbitant sums of money and then transport them to the U.S. under perilous conditions. Other immigrants have opted to access the U.S. by crossing through the Southwests treacherous deserts. As a result, thousands of migrants have tragically perished in such attempts from heat exposure, dehydration, and drowning.

The Catholic Catechism instructs the faithful that good government has two duties, both of which must be carried out and neither of which can be ignored. The first duty is to welcome the foreigner out of charity and respect for the human person. Persons have the right to immigrate and thus government must accommodate this right to the greatest extent possible, especially financially blessed nations: "The more prosperous nations are obliged, to the extent they are able, to welcome the foreigner in search of the security and the means of livelihood which he cannot find in his country of origin. Public authorities should see to it that the natural right is respected that places a guest under the protection of those who receive him." Catholic Catechism, 2241.

The second duty is to secure ones border and enforce the law for the sake of the common good. Sovereign nations have the right to enforce their laws and all persons must respect the legitimate exercise of this right: "Political authorities, for the sake of the common good for which they are responsible may make the exercise of the right to immigrate subject to various juridical conditions, especially with regard to the immigrants' duties toward their country of adoption. Immigrants are obliged to respect with gratitude the material and spiritual heritage of the country that receives them, to obey its laws and to assist in carrying civic burdens." Catholic Catechism, 2241.

In January 2003, the U.S. Catholic Bishops released a pastoral letter on migration entitled, "Strangers No Longer: Together on the Journey of Hope." In their letter, the Bishops stressed that, "[w]hen persons cannot find employment in their country of origin to support themselves and their families, they have a right to find work elsewhere in order to survive. Sovereign nations should provide ways to accommodate this right." No. 35. The Bishops made clear that the "[m]ore powerful economic nationsave a stronger obligation to accommodate migration flows." No. 36.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) opposes "enforcement only" immigration policies and supports comprehensive immigration reform. In Strangers No Longer: Together on the Journey of Hope, the U.S. Catholic Bishops outlined the elements of their proposal for comprehensive immigration reform. These include:

Earned Legalization: An earned legalization program would allow foreign nationals of good moral character who are living in the United States to apply to adjust their status to obtain lawful permanent residence. Such a program would create an eventual path to citizenship, requiring applicants to complete and pass background checks, pay a fine, and establish eligibility for resident status to participate in the program. Such a program would help stabilize the workforce, promote family unity, and bring a large population "out of the shadows," as members of their communities.

Future Worker Program: A worker program to permit foreignborn workers to enter the country safely and legally would help reduce illegal immigration and the loss of life in the American desert. Any program should include workplace protections, living wage levels, safeguards against the displacement of U.S. workers, and family unity.

Familybased Immigration Reform: It currently takes years for family members to be reunited through the familybased legal immigration system. This leads to family breakdown and, in some cases, illegal immigration. Changes in familybased immigration should be made to increase the number of family visas available and reduce family reunification waiting times.

Restoration of Due Process Rights: Due process rights taken away by the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) should be restored. For example, the three and ten year bars to reentry should be eliminated.

Addressing Root Causes: Congress should examine the root causes of migration, such as underdevelopment and poverty in sending countries, and seek longterm solutions. The antidote to the problem of illegal immigration is sustainable economic development in sending countries. In an ideal world, migration should be driven by choice, not necessity.

Enforcement: The U.S. Catholic Bishops accept the legitimate role of the U.S. government in intercepting unauthorized migrants who attempt to travel to the United States. The Bishops also believe that by increasing lawful means for migrants to enter, live, and work in the United States, law enforcement will be better able to focus upon those who truly threaten public safety: drug and human traffickers, smugglers, and wouldbe terrorists. Any enforcement measures must be targeted, proportional, and humane.

Link:
Catholic Church's Position on Immigration Reform

The three core principles of Donald J. Trump's immigration plan

When politicians talk about immigration reform they mean: amnesty, cheap labor and open borders. The Schumer-Rubio immigration bill was nothing more than a giveaway to the corporate patrons who run both parties.

Real immigration reform puts the needs of working people first not wealthy globetrotting donors. We are the only country in the world whose immigration system puts the needs of other nations ahead of our own. That must change. Here are the three core principles of real immigration reform:

1. A nation without borders is not a nation. There must be a wall across the southern border.

2. A nation without laws is not a nation. Laws passed in accordance with our Constitutional system of government must be enforced.

3. A nation that does not serve its own citizens is not a nation. Any immigration plan must improve jobs, wages and security for all Americans.

Make Mexico Pay For The Wall

For many years, Mexicos leaders have been taking advantage of the United States by using illegal immigration to export the crime and poverty in their own country (as well as in other Latin American countries). They have evenpublished pamphlets on how to illegally immigrate to the United States. The costs for the United States have been extraordinary: U.S. taxpayers have been asked to pick up hundreds of billions in healthcare costs, housing costs, education costs, welfare costs, etc. Indeed, the annual cost of free tax credits alone paid to illegal immigrants quadrupled to $4.2 billion in 2011. The effects on jobseekers have also been disastrous, and black Americans havebeen particularly harmed.

The impact in terms of crime has been tragic. In recent weeks, the headlines have been covered with cases of criminals who crossed our border illegally only to go on to commit horrific crimes against Americans. Most recently, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, with a long arrest record, is charged with breaking into a 64 year-old womans home, crushing her skull and eye sockets with a hammer, raping her, and murdering her. The Police Chief in Santa Maria says theblood trailleads straight to Washington.

In 2011, the Government Accountability Office found that there were a shocking3 million arrests attached to the incarcerated alien population, including tens of thousands of violent beatings, rapes and murders.

Meanwhile, Mexico continues to make billions on not only our bad trade deals but also relies heavily on the billions of dollars in remittances sent from illegal immigrants in the United States back to Mexico ($22 billion in2013alone).

In short, the Mexican government has taken the United States to the cleaners. They are responsible for this problem, and they must help pay to clean it up.

The cost of building a permanent border wall pales mightily in comparison to what American taxpayers spend every single year on dealing with the fallout of illegal immigration on their communities, schools and unemployment offices.

Mexico must pay for the wall and, until they do, the United States will, among other things: impound all remittance payments derived from illegal wages; increase fees on all temporary visas issued to Mexican CEOs and diplomats (and if necessary cancel them); increase fees on all border crossing cards of which we issue about 1 million to Mexican nationals each year (a major source of visa overstays); increase fees on all NAFTA worker visas from Mexico (another major source of overstays); and increase fees at ports of entry to the United States from Mexico [Tariffs and foreign aid cuts are also options]. We will not be taken advantage of anymore.

Defend The Laws And Constitution Of The United States

America will only be great as long as America remains a nation of laws that lives according to the Constitution. No one is above the law. The following steps will return to the American people the safety of their laws, which politicians have stolen from them:

Triple the number of ICE officers. As the President of the ICE Officers Council explained in Congressional testimony: Only approximately 5,000 officers and agents within ICE perform the lions share of ICEs immigration missionCompare that to the Los Angeles Police Department at approximately 10,000 officers. Approximately 5,000 officers in ICE cover 50 states, Puerto Rico and Guam, and are attempting to enforce immigration law against 11 million illegal aliens already in the interior of the United States. Since 9-11, the U.S. Border Patrol has tripled in size, while ICEs immigration enforcement arm, Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), has remained at relatively the same size. This will be funded by accepting therecommendation of the Inspector General for Tax Administration and eliminating tax credit payments to illegal immigrants.

Nationwide e-verify. This simple measure will protect jobs for unemployed Americans.

Mandatory return of all criminal aliens. The Obama Administration has released 76,000 aliens from its custody with criminal convictions since 2013 alone. All criminal aliens must be returned to their home countries, a process which can be aided by canceling any visas to foreign countries which will not accept their own criminals, and making it a separate and additional crime to commit an offense while here illegally.

Detentionnot catch-and-release. Illegal aliens apprehended crossing the border must be detained until they are sent home, no more catch-and-release.

Defund sanctuary cities. Cut-off federal grants to any city which refuses to cooperate with federal law enforcement.

Enhanced penalties for overstaying a visa. Millions of people come to the United States on temporary visas but refuse to leave, without consequence. This is a threat to national security. Individuals who refuse to leave at the time their visa expires should be subject to criminal penalties; this will also help give local jurisdictions the power to hold visa overstays until federal authorities arrive. Completion of a visa tracking system required by law but blocked by lobbyists will be necessary as well.

Cooperate with local gang task forces. ICE officers should accompany local police departments conducting raids of violent street gangs likeMS-13 and the18th street gang, which have terrorized the country. All illegal aliens in gangs should be apprehended and deported. Again, quoting Chris Crane: ICE Officers and Agents are forced to apply the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Directive, not to children in schools, but to adult inmates in jails. If an illegal-alien inmate simply claims eligibility, ICE is forced to release the alien back into the community. This includes serious criminals who have committed felonies, who have assaulted officers, and who prey on childrenICE officers should be required to place detainers on every illegal alien they encounter in jails and prisons, since these aliens not only violated immigration laws, but then went on to engage in activities that led to their arrest by police; ICE officers should be required to issue Notices to Appear to all illegal aliens with criminal convictions, DUI convictions, or a gang affiliation; ICE should be working with any state or local drug or gang task force that asks for such assistance.

End birthright citizenship. This remains the biggest magnet for illegal immigration.By a 2:1 margin, voters say its the wrong policy, including Harry Reid who said no sane country would give automatic citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants.

Put American Workers First

Decades of disastrous trade deals and immigration policies havedestroyed our middle class. Today, nearly 40% of black teenagers are unemployed. Nearly 30% of Hispanic teenagers are unemployed. For black Americans without high school diplomas, the bottom has fallen out: more than 70% were employed in 1960, compared to less than 40% in 2000. Across the economy, the percentage of adults in the labor force has collapsed to a level not experienced in generations. As CBS news wrote in a pieceentitled Americas incredible shrinking middle class: If the middle-class is the economic backbone of America, then the country is developing osteoporosis.

The influx of foreign workers holds down salaries, keeps unemployment high, and makes it difficult for poor and working class Americans including immigrants themselves and their children to earn a middle class wage. Nearly half of all immigrants and their US-born children currentlylive in or near poverty, including more than 60 percent of Hispanic immigrants. Every year, we voluntarily admit another 2 million new immigrants, guest workers, refugees, and dependents, growing our existing all-time historic record population of 42 million immigrants. We need to control the admission of new low-earning workers in order to: help wages grow, get teenagers back to work, aid minorities rise into the middle class, help schools and communities falling behind, and to ensure our immigrant members of the national family become part of the American dream.

Additionally, we need to stop giving legal immigrant visas to people bent on causing us harm. From the 9/11 hijackers, to the Boston Bombers, and many others, our immigration system is being used to attack us. The President of the immigration caseworkers union declaredin a statement on ISIS: We've become the visa clearinghouse for the world.

Here are some additional specific policy proposals for long-term reform:

Increase prevailing wage for H-1Bs. We graduatetwo times more Americans with STEM degrees each year than find STEM jobs, yet as much as two-thirds of entry-level hiring for IT jobs is accomplished through the H-1B program. More than half of H-1B visas are issued for the program's lowest allowable wage level, and more than eighty percent for its bottom two. Raising the prevailing wage paid to H-1Bs will force companies to give these coveted entry-level jobs to the existing domestic pool of unemployed native and immigrantworkers in the U.S., instead of flying in cheaper workers from overseas. This will improve the number of black, Hispanic and female workers in Silicon Valleywho have been passed over in favor of the H-1B program. Mark Zuckerbergs personal Senator, Marco Rubio, has a bill to triple H-1Bs that would decimate women and minorities.

Requirement to hire American workers first. Too many visas,like the H-1B, have no such requirement. In the year 2015, with 92 million Americans outside the workforce andincomes collapsing, we needcompanies to hire from the domestic pool of unemployed. Petitions for workers should be mailed to the unemployment office, not USCIS.

End welfare abuse. Applicants for entry to the United States should be required to certify that they can pay for their own housing, healthcare and other needs before coming to the U.S.

Jobs program for inner city youth. The J-1 visajobs program for foreign youth will be terminated and replaced with a resume bank for inner city youth provided to all corporate subscribers to the J-1 visa program.

Refugee program for American children. Increase standards for the admission of refugees and asylum-seekers tocrack down on abuses. Use the monies saved onexpensive refugee programs to help place American children without parents in safer homes and communities, and to improve community safety inhigh crime neighborhoods in the United States.

Immigration moderation. Before any new green cards are issued to foreign workers abroad, there will be a pause where employers will have to hire from the domestic pool of unemployed immigrant and native workers. This will help reverse women's plummetingworkplace participation rate, grow wages, and allow record immigration levels to subside tomore moderate historical averages.

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Immigration Reform | Donald J Trump for President

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Jeb Bush vs. Hillary Clinton On The Issues, by Jesse Gordon of OnTheIssues.org

Obamanomics, by John R. Talbott, published July 1, 2008

The Myth of a Maverick, by Matt Welch

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What Every American Should Know, by the American Conservative Union

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(click a picture above for excerpts or other books and debates about Immigration)

Read more here:
IMMIGRATION REFORM - On The Issues

WASHINGTON -- None of the 13 remaining Republican presidential candidates support comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, now that Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina has dropped out of the race.

Some of Grahams policy stances were bold for a GOP presidential candidate, which is perhaps why he never rose above one or two percent in the polls. He frequently criticized businessman Donald Trump for his anti-immigrant rhetoric and went after Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas for his opposition to abortion ban exceptions. He publicly said that climate change is caused by human activity and said he was open to increasing taxes to reduce the national debt. The Republican field is a lot more conservative without the good-humored Graham, who also distinguished himself by being the field's only bachelor.

On immigration reform, Graham worked with fellow candidate and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio to pass the so-called Gang of Eight" bill in 2013, warning his fellow Republicans that they needed to get right with Latino voters if they wanted to have any chances at electoral success in the future. Many Republicans thought so at the time, and the bill passed 68 to 32. Since then, GOP candidates have veered so far right that it's hard to believe a bill that would have allowed undocumented immigrants to earn citizenship passed the Senate only two years ago. Rubio has all but disowned the bill, saying that although he's still open to legal status for undocumented immigrants, he wouldn't support a comprehensive bill like the one he once championed without first enacting stronger border security measures.

Graham, though, stuck to his guns, and his statements on immigration throughout his short presidential run are remarkably similar to what he's said in the past.

The senator has consistently said that the GOP needs to embrace immigration reform in order to win the White House.

If we dont pass immigration reform, Graham said in 2013, if we dont get it off the table in a reasonable, practical way, it doesnt matter who you run in 2016. Were in a demographic death spiral as a party, and the only way to get back in the good graces with the Hispanic community, in my view, is to pass comprehensive immigration reform. If you dont do that, it really doesnt matter who runs in my view.

Former President George W. Bush got 44 percent of the Hispanic vote in 2004, but Mitt Romney got just 27 percent of the vote in 2012.

This is an odd formula for the party to adopt, the fastest growing demographic in the country, and were losing votes every election, Graham said on Fox News that same year. Its one thing to shoot yourself in the foot -- just dont reload the gun. I intend not to reload this gun when it comes to Hispanics. I intend to tear this wall down and pass an immigration reform bill thats an American solution to an American problem.

The 2016 GOP field is more conservative following Lindsey Graham's decision to drop out of the presidential race.

Graham, who made pragmatic arguments for comprehensive immigration reform in 2013, stuck with the same message this year.

Unless there is a baby boom that I dont see coming, and Im part of the problem, Im not married and I dont have any kids, we better hope we can improve our legal immigration system -- were going to need a lot more legal immigration than is in this bill, I wish we could do more, he said on the Senate floor in June of 2013. Whos going to take care of the Baby Boomers when we retire whos going to replace the workers in our economy if we dont have better legal immigration?

He repeated this argument exactly two years later, in June.

We're going to be down to two workers for every retiree in the next 20 years, he explained at the Aspen Ideas Festival. So when I hear a Republican say, We need to cap legal immigration, what world are you looking at?

Graham was alone among the Republican candidates in another regard too: He was the only one to clearly and consistently condemn Trump for his anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim rhetoric. He said Trumps plan to deport all undocumented immigrants would kill the Republican Party, and is stupid, illegal and not practical.

"I believe Donald Trump is destroying the Republican Partys chances to win an election that we cant afford to lose," Graham said earlier this month. "You think you're going to win an election with that kind of garbage?"

The Democratic National Committee was quick to point out that Graham's departure from the GOP field left it a lot more hostile to immigration reform.

In its 2012 election autopsy, the Republican Party made a big deal about supporting immigration reform and reaching out to Hispanic voters," DNC spokesman Eric Walker said in a statement Monday. "Three years later, the one presidential candidate who has consistently favored comprehensive immigration reform just dropped out of the race after attracting virtually no support.

"At the same time, [Donald Trump] has consistently demonized immigrant communities," Walker continued, "while [Ted Cruz] recently challenged the rest of the field to align with his extreme position of opposing legalization or citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Good job, good effort, GOP.

Also on HuffPost:

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Immigration Reform's Best GOP 2016 Ally Just Dropped Out ...

The actions are aimed at allowing millions of undocumented immigrants to apply for programs that could make them eligible for work authorization and associated benefits.

The President unveiled the programs over a year ago, but federal courts blocked implementation in response to a challenge brought by Texas and 25 other states. Since then, the nearly 4.3 million immigrants who would have been eligible have been caught in legal limbo.

The Supreme Court which already has a docket bursting with consequential issues will likely rule on the case by early summer. If the Court greenlights the programs that are considered a centerpiece of the President's second term, they will go into effect before he leaves office.

RELATED: How Trump's deportation plan failed 62 years ago

The Supreme Court's ruling will come down in the midst of the presidential campaign and will settle an issue that has become a talking point for Republican candidates who say that the President exceeded his authority when he announced the programs.

At issue is the implementation of the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) aimed at the approximately 4.3 million undocumented immigrants who are parents of U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents, as well as an expansion of the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) targeting teenagers and young adults who were born outside of the U.S. but raised in the country.

The President's actions allow eligible participants to obtain temporary lawful presence and apply for work authorization as well as some associated benefits.

"Millions of families have waited nearly a year for these programs to take effect," said Karen Tumlin of the National Immigration Law Center. "They will now get a full day in court as the nation's highest court hears this case of tremendous moral and legal importance."

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has been leading the charge in court against the Obama administration, said that the unilateral actions are unconstitutional and that the administration also violated the Administrative Procedures Act, a law that sets forth how federal agencies can establish regulations.

"The Executive does have enforcement discretion to forbear from removing aliens on an individual basis," Paxton argued in court papers, but that does not include "the power to deem unlawful conduct as lawful, or to change an alien's statutory immigration classification."

Nov. 2014: Clinton backs Obama's immigration plan

Paxton said the programs represent one of the "largest changes in immigration policy in our Nation's history" and that the state has the standing to bring the case in part because it will bear the burden and cost of issuing additional driver's licenses.

In a statement out Tuesday, Paxton said that by taking up the case, the Supeme Court "recognizes the importance of the separation of powers."

"As federal courts have already ruled three times, there are limits to the President's authority, and those limits enacted by Congress were exceeded when the President unilaterally sought to grant 'lawful presence' to more than 4 million unauthorized aliens who are in this country unlawfully," he said in a statement. "The Court should affirm what President Obama said himself on more than 20 occasions: that he cannot unilaterally rewrite congressional laws and circumvent the people's representatives."

The Obama administration says that the actions are a valid exercise of prosecutorial discretion and that Texas and the states lack the legal harm, called "standing," to challenge them in Court.

Supreme Court Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli argued in court filings that if the lower court ruling is left undisturbed it will allow the states "to frustrate the federal government's enforcement of the nation's immigration laws."

RELATED: Ted Cruz's immigration reversal

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Obama immigration reform: SCOTUS to hear actions ...